Flight conveyer



Patented Mar. 27, 1951 FLIGHT CONVEYER Grant E. Hatcher, Lee's Summit, Mo., assignor to Sam Mulkey Company, Kansas City, M0., a partnership composed of Stanley A. Mulkey and Lucile Mulkcy Application October 7, 1946, Serial No. 701,678

3 Claims. 1 This invention relates to flight conveyors and more particularly to the flight structure and mounting thereof on suitable carriers, such as chains and the like, and for use on elevators or conveyors employed in transferring material disassembled relation. horizontally or at an incline, either up or down. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the conveyor chain carsaid conveyors being especially desirable where rier with a, conveyor flight applied thereto. the inclination is too steep for use of apron or Fig. 4 is a side elevational view of the conveyor belt conveyors. chain carrier and flight applied thereto.

Flight conveyors are usually formed by attach- Referring more in detail to the drawings: ing flights to strands of chains or other suitable l designates a conveyor flight adapted to be carriers movable in a trough to push the material connected with suitable conveyor carriers such therealong. The flights may slide on the bottom as chains 2 and 3 which operate in a trough l of of the trough or be carried by wearing shoes or suitable construction. The trough may vary deother suitable means. Spacing of the flights is pending upon the service in which it is adapted usually varied to suit the type of material, size to be employed and the material to be transof lumps or articles, capacity, and inclination of ferred thereby. In the particular structure illusthe conveyor. In conventional practice flight trated the trough consists of a bottom 5, prefconveyors, particularly those using chain as carably coextensive with the length of the conveyor riers, are constructed by providing wings or and of any suitable width. The sides or" the flanges on selected links of the chain and fastentrough bottom are turned upwardly as at 6 to lug angles or other suitable flights thereto by provide side walls 1 and 8 prefe a ly of greater means of bolts and the like. Such structure redepth than the height of the flights, said side quires considerable time for assembl and has walls I and B terminating in outwardly flared porother disadvantages, the principal one being that tions 9 and ill, the outer edges of which are p the time and expense of varying the spacing or vided with outwardly and downwardly extending arrangement of the flights to meet the variable flanges I d I2 to p ovide substantial strength conditions encountered as when employed on to the Walls of the trough. farms or other general use requiring the transfer The carriers 2 and 3 a e preferably formed o of a variety of materials, is substantially proendless strands of chain links adapted to be hibitive. moved along the bottom of the trough adjacent The principal objects of the present invention e Side Walls 7 a 3 respectively by means f are to provide a flight adapted to be connected Sprocket/S er Su abl driving means (not to substantially any link in a chain carri to shown). As in conventional practice, the chains provide a connecting device on the flight adapted may be Suitably htened and are kept in alignto resiliently engage a chain carrier to secure ment y the Sprockets for dTiViIlg ee the flight thereto; to provide for mounting a trough and chain Carriers form no part of the conveyor flight to a chain carrier by mean ne present invention except in the manner in which ing frictional engagement; th it t provide a they cooperate with the conveyor flights and the. flight conveyor with flights adapted to snap a mounting thereformounting on the carriers; to proVide conveyor The conveyor carrier chains are illustrated as flight that is reversible on the conveyor carrier; Chain commonly known as detachable l ag t provide fastening means fo conveyor flights cultural chain, however, any suitable chain may that are quickly and easil engaged or disengaged be used that has Openings at t e ends of the t th conveyor carrier; and t provide a respective links or is provided with means on the veyor flight of thi character that i t on links suitable to receive the flight fastening means durable, of economical structure and capable of as later de ed. Agricultural chain such as eficient use. illustrated consists of a plurality of links I 3 coined .Tn accomplishing these and other objects of out of flat stock in such a mamier that each link the present invention, I have provided improved Consists of spaced longitudinal bars 94 and 15 details of structure, the preferred forms of which connected at their ends by cross members [5 and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, I? which are arcuate in cross-section. The cross wherein: members H5 and ii are preferably bent upwardly Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of a and portions of the material cut from between conveyor type elevator equipped with flights and he ba s 4 and 15 e bent dOWIlWardlY to pmounting structure therefor embodying the features of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a conveyor chain carrier and conveyor flight in spaced,

erate with the respective cross members l6 and H to form terminal ends l8 and H) of the link. The terminal ends are formed whereby the outer radius of the terminal end [9 is substantially the same as the inner radius of the terminal end I8. The ends of cross member i6 and the downwardly bent portion cooperating therewith to form terminal end l8 are spaced sufliciently to pass the thickness of the bars l4 and I5, whereby the terminal end I9 of one link may be inserted in the terminal end l8 of the adjacent link to form a bearing and a pivotal connection between the respective links. All of the links of the chains 2 and 3 are of the type described, no special links being required.

As illustrated particularly in Fig. 4, the shapes of the terminal ends of the links are such that when assembled there is an opening 20 inside the terminal portions at each pivotal connection of the respective links.

The flights i may be of any suitable structure but preferably consist of an angular member having a flange 2] adapted to be disposed in substantially parallel relation at the bottom of the trough 4 while moving thereover. The other flange 22 of the flight member extends upwardly from the flange 2i and may be of any suitable height depending upon the material to be transferred by the conveyor. The flange 22 may be of any suitable length, but is illustrated as bein coextensive with the flange 2i which is preferably of such length that it may be positioned transversely of the chain carriers 2 and 3 with suitable clearance 23 between the ends of the flight and said chain carriers.

The fastening means 24 for securing the flights t the chain carriers preferably consists of members formed of round stock and shaped to provide a bar 25 terminating in legs 26 and 2'l preferably having slightly different spacing at their outer ends 28 than adjacent the bar portion 25, providing spring tension when said legs are held in parallel relation. The bar portions 25 of the fastening means are suitably secured to the flange 2| of the flight member as by welding 29 to hold the fastening means securely and rigidly on the conveyor flight.

The legs 26 and 21 of the fastening means 24 are of such size to pass freely into the openings at the terminal ends of the chain links, the bar 255 and the spacing of the legs 26 and 2l adjacent the bar being of such length as to correspond substantially to the spacing between the openings 2!) of adjacent links. It will be readily seen that by slightly compressing the outer ends of the legs 26 and 21, said legs may be inserted into the openings 20 .and when the pressure on the legs 26 and 2? is released there will be a sufficient spring tension applied thereby to the terminal ends of the respective links to securely hold the flight 5 connected with the chain carrier.

In assembling a flight on the conveyor carriers, the inside portion of one of the chain carriers is tilted upwardly and the legs 26 and 2i of the flight fastening means inserted into the openings 20 of adjacent chain links and moved therein until there is only slight spacing between the flights and the chain links. The chain carrier in which the flight has been inserted is then lifted .and the opposite end of the flight tilted downwardly while the inside portion of the other chain carrier is tilted upwardl whereby the outer ends 28 of the flight fastening means 24 are aligned with and inserted into the openings 20 of links 4 directly opposite the links to which the first means 24 was applied.

In constructing a conveyor of this type the flights are usually equally spaced along the chain carriers and the vertical flange 22 is usually in the direction of travel of the carriers. However, in using and operating a device of this character, due to variation in the types of material and size of articles being transferred by the conveyor, it is frequently desirable to change the spacing of the flights thereon. The conveyor may be stopped, one of the carrier chains lifted until the legs 26- and 2? of the fastening device 24 on that side of the conveyor is withdrawn from the opening 2%] in the links of the chain. The other fastening device 2 may then be withdrawn from the other chain and the flight moved to any desirable position on the chain and reapplied thereto as described in assembling the flight to the chain.

It is to be noted in the particular type of chain illustrated the spacing between the open ngs 29 is the same for each link in the chain. Therefore, flights may be placed in any desired spacing, and as close as at every other link of the chain. Both of the connecting members 24 are constructed exactly alike, therefore the flights may be reversed in direction as illustrated in Fig. l at 36, whereby the flanges 2% of adjacent flights may be directed toward each other to provide a pocket eifect 3! in the conveyor. While the leg 25 and 2'! of the fastening means 2 will pivot with the link adjacent to which they are mounted, the spaced engagement of the legs with the respective links will keep the flight in alignment therewith and not permit pivotal movement of the flight relative to the chain link.

It is believed obvious that I have provided a conveyor flight and mounting therefor by which the flight may be easily applied to and removed from the conveyor carrier, arranged in any desired spacing thereon and securely held in place by the slip frictional connection between the flights and the conveyor carrier chain links.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a flight conveyor, spaced carrier chains formed of detachable links having mating ends pivotally engaged for connecting said links, said chains having openings equally spaced therein substantially at the axes of the pivotally engaged mating ends, conveyor flights arranged transersely between said chains, and a pair of outwardly projecting legs on each end of said flights extending into adjacent opening of said chains, the outer ends of said legs having different spacing than said adjacent openings for frictional engagement therein to secure the flights thereto.

2. In a flight conveyor, spaced carrier chains formed of a plurality of detachable links having mating ends pivotally engaged for connecting said links, said chains having transverse openings substantially at the aXes of the pivotally engaged mating ends of said links, conveyor flights arranged transversely between said chains, U- shaped means secured to the conveyor flight adjacent the ends thereof, and outwardly projecting spaced legs on said U-shaped means adapted to be slidably and frictionally engaged in adjacent transverse openings of the respective chain.

3. In a flight conveyor, spaced carrier chains formed of a plurality of pivotally connected links, said chains having a plurality of spaced transverse openings, conveyor flights arranged transversely between said chains, and a pair of spaced on each end of said flights, said legs having free ends slidably and pivotally mounted in spaced transverse openings of said chainsQthe outer ends of each pair of legs having difierent spacing than the respective transverse openings-for frictionally and resiliently engaging therein toremovably secure the flights thereto.

GRANT HATCHER.

REFERENCES CIT D Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Grater Dec. 1, 1885 Loree Apr. 9, 1889 Gould Feb. 21, 1893 Pando Dec. 6, 1910 Gledhill June 19, 1917 Newclick Nov. 10, 1925 Brown Sept. 11, 1928 Bennett Feb. 18, 1930 Cano Dec. 30, 1930 Hurxthal Nov. 30, 1937 Lockwood Oct. 30, 1945 

